This application claims the priority of German Application No. 102 16 893.8 filed Apr. 17, 2002.
The invention is based on a motor vehicle, especially a passenger vehicle, with a folding top. Preferred embodiments relate to passenger vehicles with a folding top which can be changed from a closed position spanning a passenger compartment into a storage position and which includes: a folding top frame structure, a folding top cover which is held in use in place on the folding top frame structure, and a rigid rear window, wherein said folding top frame structure comprises at least one rear, U-shaped tensioning bar, which in a closed position of the folding top can be displaced into a substantially horizontal tensioned position and into an upward folded upright mounted position and which on its free bar ends is seated in a swivel axis that runs roughly parallel to a vehicle's transverse axis.
A motor vehicle of the generic kind is known from German Patent Document DE 44 41 666 C1, (U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,821). It comprises a folding top, which can be changed from a closed position spanning the passenger compartment into a storage position on the rear of the vehicle. The folding top contains a folding top structure, which apart from other frame components includes a U-shaped tensioning bar that in the closed position of the folding top can assume a substantially horizontal tensioning position or can assume an upward folded, for example vertical mounted position. In addition, the folding top contains a folding top covering, which is held in position on the folding top structure and includes a rigid rear window. The mounted position can also be described as the service position and serves in particular the purpose of accessing a storage compartment located beneath the tensioning bar or for performing maintenance and/or repair work on the folding top. Especially in the case of a motor vehicle with central motor configuration, the tensioning bar, which can be brought into the mounted position, has proven useful for maintaining accessibility to the driving motor, even if the remaining folding top component assume the positions as they would in the closed state.
It is an object of the invention to create a motor vehicle of the kind mentioned at the beginning where in the closed position of the folding top the tensioning bar can be transferred into the mounted position without difficulty and without the rigid rear window impairing the mounted position.
This object is achieved with a motor vehicle, especially a passenger vehicle, with a folding top, which can be changed from a closed position spanning a passenger compartment into a storage position and which includes: a folding top frame structure, a folding top cover which is held in use in place on the folding top frame structure, and a rigid rear window, wherein said folding top frame structure comprises at least one rear, U-shaped tensioning bar, which in a closed position of the folding top can be displaced into a substantially horizontal tensioned position and into an upward folded upright mounted position and which on its free bar ends is seated in a swivel axis that runs roughly parallel to a vehicle's transverse axis, and wherein each leg of the U-shaped tensioning bar is connected with the swivel axis by means of a detachable connecting device.
Further advantageous features of preferred embodiments of the Invention are described herein and in the claims.
Substantial advantages accomplished with the invention are that due to the detachable connecting device the tensioning bar can be decoupled from the swivel axis so that it can be displaced into the desired mounted position upward, i.e. from its horizontal tensioned position against the driving direction, without the rear window impairing the swivel path. This way, accessibility to the storage compartment in the rear can be ensured in a simple manner when the tensioning bar has been moved into the mounted position. In the mounted position of the tensioning bar, however, folding top components located on the interior are also accessible for example for adjusting purposes so that the invented tensioning bar can be employed not only in motor vehicles with central engine configuration.
In a design pursuant to certain preferred embodiments of the Invention, each leg of the U-shaped tensioning bar consists of two elements. Both leg elements of each leg are attached to each other through the connecting device and can also be detached from each other through the connecting device to allow the tensioning bar to be changed into the mounted position.
Preferred is a connecting device in which the two elements of the leg are not detached completely from each other, however in which a relative motion of these two leg elements to each other is given. This can be achieved in a simple and cost-effective manner according to certain preferred embodiments of the Invention by a folding axis, which is provided in addition to the swivel axis and runs at a distance to and roughly parallel to the swivel axis. The tensioning bar is brought into the mounted position by moving it about said folding axis. According to certain preferred embodiments of the Invention, this folding axis is preferably arranged above the swivel axis.
Pursuant to another design of certain preferred embodiments of the Invention, the connecting device, however, can also be designed as a separable or telescoping plug coupling, which contains a plug element receiver on one of the leg elements of a leg and a plug element on the other plug element of the same leg, which in the case of a closed connecting device is in the plug element receiver. With a separated plug coupling the tensioning bar is stretched so that it can move beyond the rigid rear window about the swivel axis into the mounted position.
In certain preferred embodiments of the Invention the tensioning bar can be displaced into the mounted position by equipping each leg end with an elongated hole that is adjusted in the direction of the central longitudinal axis of the leg and in which the swivel axis engages. This variation of the design also achieves an elongation of the leg. To ensure safe functioning of the folding top, certain preferred embodiments of the Invention also provides that the tensioning bar be localized or locked with the connecting device in a first displacement position that is specified in relation to the swivel axis, wherein said first displacement position is assigned to the tensioned position of the tensioning bar. With a detached connecting device, the tensioning bar is displaced along the elongated hole into the second displacement position, which is allocated to the mounted position of the tensioning bar. In the second displacement position, the basis of the U-shaped leg has a greater distance to the swivel axis so that the rigid rear window is not located in the swivel path of the tensioning bar when shifting the tensioning bar into the mounted position.
Additional designs are also described in the remaining dependent claims.
These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description thereof when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.